After a 16hr download, i was able to get Windows 7 Beta. I was kinda wondering what kind of installation should I choose.. Clean or Upgrade. Finally I decided to upgrade my Vista Business to Windows 7. My laptop is an Intel Core2 Duo 1.6GHz running @ 1.5GB RAM. I was expecting 20-30 minutes for the installation, but to my surprise it took 3hrs and 50 minutes for the upgrade.
I never lost any of my Documents, Pictures or Videos during my upgrade, though I had backed up all data to my 160GB iPod :P
Windows 7 is a whole new experience. This was what i was expecting in Vista after trying the Longhorn Betas. Windows 7 has a refreshed look and feel.
The gadgets without the sidebar really saves a lot of RAM for my other applications.
The new Taskbar is pretty cool, almost similar to that of OS-X. But has a lot of cool new features integrated to it like Jump list, Full screen previews, Rearranging the different icons is possible (i wanted this when i had may aged XP.. lol..). This time we have custom settings for the irritating UAC in Vista.
Another feature i liked in Windows 7 is the Library. No matter where i have my documents, pictures or videos, i could open them in my Library, unlike other operating systems, where i really need to go to that pirtuclar drive to get that particular file. It not only sorts the files from my laptop, but also from my desktop in my home network.
The ribbon that we had in our Office 2007 is back again in the word pad and paint.
Over all my RAM usage is just 45% compared to Vista which was eating upto 60% with no other programmed opened. Windows 7 has every other feature included in Vista like Flip3D, desktop search. This has good response to user inputs compared to Vista. I have not got any bugs till now, but i'm not sure for how long. Anyways this beta is far better than the final release of Vista in 2006.
About the software compatibility, all my softwares installed in Vista are working fine with Windows 7. I have had no issues till now. So I would wait for a couple of days more to see if I have any issues, coz I am planning to upgrade my home desktop as well from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate Beta.
